California: Republican Party official denounced for anti-Muslim smear … against Sikh

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Vera Eyzendooren's Facebook postThe leader of a San Bernardino County Republican club is being denounced for a Facebook posting that fellow conservatives are calling racist.

Vera Eyzendooren, president of the San Bernardino County Federation of Republican Women, accused a San Francisco attorney who is running for a leadership role in the state party of being a terrorist sympathizer, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Harmeet Dhillon is chairwoman of the San Francisco Republican Party and a candidate for vice chairwoman of the state organization.

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Islamophobia in Quebec

Posted on by Bob Pitt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vNvuI1ThZEQ

Quebec has the second largest Muslim population in Canada. The census bureau says about 200,000 Muslims live in Quebec. It is perhaps the fastest growing religion in Canada and is expected to triple within the next 20 years, but critics say with all of its diversity, Quebec is also perhaps one of the most Islamaphobic provinces in the country. The President of the Muslim Council of Montreal is setting the record straight.

Press TV, 3 February 2013

Hundreds of Beitar Jerusalem fans walk out after Muslim player scores

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sunday evening’s soccer encounter between Beitar Jerusalem and Maccabi Netanya ended in a 1-1 draw, but the event was again overshadowed by a blunt show of racism by hundreds of Beitar fans.

Considering Beitar’s dire recent form in the Premier League – four losses and a draw in the last five games – one could believe that that the home fans would be overjoyed when their team scored in the 48th minute. After a weak first half from the hosts, Avi Rikan sent a delicious through ball which cut through the Netanya defense, finding Chechen forward Zaur Sadayev, who controlled the ball with his chest and sweetly struck home from inside the box. While most Beitar fans and players celebrated the goal, some 300 fans walked out in disgust.

Haaretz, 3 March 2013

Update:  See also “‘It’s not racism. The Muslim players just shouldn’t be here’: Beitar Jerusalem fans walk out over signing of two Muslim Chechen players”, Independent, 4 March 2013

UN committee condemns News Zealand MP’s inflammatory remarks about Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The United Nations has noticed NZ First MP Richard Prosser’s “Wogistan” rant about Muslims.

Reports about his magazine article calling for young Muslims to be banned from Western airlines went around the world and now the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has had its say.

“The committee regrets the recent inflammatory remarks by a Member of Parliament vilifying persons from Central Asia or the Middle East based on their skin colour and country of origin as well as their religion,” it says in the New Zealand section of its latest report.

“It welcomes the strong criticism of such statements by the Minister of Justice and Ethnic Affairs and the Race Relations Commissioner, among others.”

Mr Prosser wrote in his column for Investigate magazine that most terrorists were Muslims. “Misogynist troglodytes from Wogistan are threatening our way of life and security of travel in the name of their stone-age religion,” he wrote.

Mr Prosser was reprimanded by NZ First leader Winston Peters and apologised for his remarks. Justice Minister Judith Collins, Prime Minister John Key and MPs from all the parties in parliament condemned him for making them.

Mr Prosser says he wrote the column because he was annoyed when his penknife was confiscated at Christchurch Airport.

3 News, 4 March 2013

Campus extremism, freedom and security conference at LSE

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Campus Extremism, Freedom and Security Conference

12 March 2013, 4pm – 7:30pm, at the New Theatre, East Building, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

In light of the increased opposition among student groups and university lecturers around the government’s counter-terrorism strategy, the LSE Students’ Union is convening this conference to provide a forum for dialogue and discussion between key stakeholders in the debate around campus extremism, freedom and security.

Speakers:

1) Trevor Phillips, Former Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
2) Dr Phyllis Starkey, Former MP and Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee
3) Professor Ian Cram, Head of the Law School at the University of Leeds
4) Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE, The East London Communitites Organisation
5) Jonathan Birdwell, Head of the Citizens Programme at Demos
6) Hicham Yezza, Editor-in-chief of Ceasefire Magazine and the ‘Nottingham Two’
7) Pete Mercer, Vice President of the National Union of Students
8) Michael Chessum, President of the University of London Union
9) Omar Ali, President of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies

Chaired by: Dr Kai Spiekermann (LSE) and Dr Jasmine Gani (LSE)

This Conference is supported by the University of London Union (ULU) and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS)

Suggested hashtag for Twitter users: #LSEFreedom

For further information, visit: http://bit.ly/14gctyY

Far-right Freedom Party loses control of Carinthia

Posted on by Bob Pitt
Heinz-Christian Strache with anti-mosque placard

FPÖ leader Strache

The southern Austrian state of Carinthia was long a source of inspiration for right-wing populists across Europe. As early as 1989, the Freedom Party of Carinthia (FPK) briefly nabbed the governor’s mansion in the state. In 1999, the right-wingers – behind the charismatic leadership of Jörg Haider – emerged victorious in state elections once again, and have managed to hold onto the state since.

Until Sunday, that is. In a key state election seen as a bellwether for the Austrian general election approaching in September, Carinthian voters delivered a painful blow to the FPK, the state chapter of the national Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). Sunday evening exit polls indicated that the FPK managed a mere 17.1 percent of the vote – a veritable collapse since their 45 percent result four years ago. It was the largest vote-on-vote disintegration ever seen in postwar Austria.

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Norwegian Defence League posts list of Muslim organisations

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Norwegian Defence League (NDL) has published a list of hundreds of Muslim companies and organizations on its website. The list had been compiled on the basis of listings in the Public Entity Registry. Lars Johnny Aardal, deputy leader of the NDL, said that it was published “to show the extent of Islam and Muslims in Norway”.

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BNP member calls for Swansea Mosque & Islamic Community Centre to be burnt down

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A BNP member is being investigated by police after calling for a South Wales mosque to be burnt down.

Joshua Wren, a BNP member from the Swansea area posted a photograph last night of the Swansea Mosque & Islamic Community Centre on his Facebook page adding “Burn down this devil centre”

Wren removed the photograph later, but not before Hope not Hate took a screengrab and reported the matter to South Wales Police.

Hope Not Hate, 4 March 2013

Joshua Wren Facebook post

US conservatives exclude Geller from conference

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Geller Wilders CPAC 2009Anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller has been turned away from the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, despite speaking at the event for the past four years, she says. “This year, I applied to speak and was ignored,” she wrote on her blog. “So, for the first time in five years, I won’t be at CPAC.”

CPAC is the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the country, and one of the few places where conservative politicians, movement leaders, media personalities and big donors all come together under one roof.

Salon, 4 March 2013

See also Loonwatch, 3 March 2013